The last few weeks brought us headlines of the terrible floods in Southern Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Heavy rains brought the flood levels above anything seen in 500 years (some claim). Yes, Germans have been keeping records this long. My hometown of Regensburg lies at the northernmost point of the Danube river, and the city is therefore surrounded by water. Here is a picture from my sister’s house:

Their house, fortunately for them, lies on a hill, and the water didn’t reach far enough up. Through the center of the picture is their road, which was completely impassable. To the right is a bike path. Then there is an embankment down to where the Danube normally crests, several meters lower. All of it hidden now under several meters of muddy water.

What impressed me is the German flood control technology, used everywhere to keep the water back:

They have these specially designed walls they put up to hold back the rivers. Simple fire-engine pumps and hoses are applied to pump the leakage back. The hose is held down by a few sandbags. Using this technology they were able to stave off massive damage to entire city blocks. I am not sure this could have been done with simple sandbags the way we’re using them in this country.